Building Report: Goodwin Hall Engineering Lab Report

Building Report: Goodwin Hall
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Executive Summary
The condition of Goodwin Hall during its lifespan needs to be assessed in order to preserve its structural integrity. Therefore, a polynomial curve fit model was validated and developed to determine the wind loading effects in Goodwin Hall. This encompasses applications for both present and future structural health monitoring (SHM). Since we found a visual correlation between the root mean square (RMS) wind acceleration and RMS wind velocity, we considered 52 minutes as the optimal window size. This was in comparison to window sizes of 4 and 345 minutes. The optimal model for both Mode 3 and Mode 1 was the third order of the polynomial curve fit model considering a window size of 52 minutes. This was arrived at by comparing the RMSE, Validation RMSE, and R-squared value. Further studies using the same evaluation procedure need to be conducted for higher order polynomials.
Introduction
Goodwin Hall is the College of Engineering’s flagship building in Virginia Tech. Within its halls are 150 offices for engineering departments, 40 research and instructional labs, eight classrooms, in addition to the Quillen Family Auditorium [1]. More than these, however, Goodwin Hall is an experimental building that is designed to measure the smallest vibrations within. The Hall is designed as a test bed that can track data related to its security and design, structural health monitoring, and occupancy for emergency response. There are roughly 240 accelerometers that are attached to 136 mounted sensors throughout the ceiling of the building and can detect information on the location of people within the structure, measure wind loads and normal structural settings, and to track the movement of the building that result from earthquakes [2].
A SHM system is built into the building, which was developed by Virginia Tech Smart Infrastructure Lab (VTSIL). The purpose of this SHM is to evaluate the structural integrity of the building based on modal responses and vibrational records. When the SHM detects vibrations that deviate from the range of normal variations, researchers in the Goodwin Hall will be alerted and they can make rapid changes to the building, thus avoiding severe damage [1]. However, changes to the vibrational measures can also be brought about by man-made and environmental factors. For instance, extreme temperature changes, strong winds, and extreme humidity can affect the building’s structural response. In this experiment, a polynomial curve fit model was derived from focused and analyzed wind loads which was able to estimate the influence of these factors on the vibrational response of Goodwin Hall. Through this method, false positive results can be avoided.
The present experiment is important because assessing the structural integrity of any building is paramount to assuring its safety. Vibrational changes that occur over the course of time can damage any building. Thus, this experiment is important for safety reasons, especially in response to natural and man-made disasters.
During a pre-defined time, wind data was collected from a building sensor. Wind data, comprised of wind speed and wind acceleration, wa...